Beijing loyalist to take reins in Hong Kong after rigged election
Feared operator John Lee who backed repression of Uyghurs is sole candidate for chief executive
A FORMER police officer who praised Xinjiang’s system of repression is set to lead Hong Kong following a fixed election tomorrow.
John Lee, a Beijing loyalist who renounced his British citizenship and oversaw the brutal crackdown on massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, is Hong Kong’s sole candidate for the chief executive position.
His appointment – the first to lead the city from a purely security background – has raised concerns of personal freedoms being further eroded in the former British colony.
The former beat cop who rose to run the city’s security services is a feared operator likely to cement the draconian reforms introduced to crush popular protests.
In 2019, he visited Xinjiang, the western region of China where the government has locked up more than a million Muslims in internment and forced labour camps, and has been accused of genocide. He later told lawmakers Hong Kong could take lessons from Xinjiang’s “antiterrorism” policies.
Mr Lee, 64, oversaw what many decried as an excessive use of force and tear gas by Hong Kong police against hundreds of thousands of protesters in 2019. He later wielded a sweeping national security law that essentially criminalised dissent in the financial hub. The law, outlawing subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces has seen more than 150 people arrested since its implementation in 2020.
Yet at his final rally yesterday, Mr Lee spoke of making Hong Kong “a place of hope”. “In the coming five years, Hong Kong will become a caring, accommodating place full of energy and hope. Let’s do one thing together – support the election on May 8,” he told an audience of more than 1,000 people including business tycoons and political elites.
It is not really a question of whether Mr Lee will be elected. Hong Kong’s chief executive is chosen by a committee of nearly 1,500 people, of whom more than half have already backed him, guaranteeing a victory.
Before Mr Lee, the previous four executives who have run Hong Kong since its 1997 return to Chinese rule have been either business figures or civil service administrators.
His security background shows that “Beijing is still very anxious about controlling Hong Kong,” said Hofung Hung, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“They want to show the message that they are going to continue to put security and political stability as a first priority above everything else,” he said
Mr Lee said in a manifesto released last week that his priority would be enacting Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini constitution, requiring Hong Kong to pass laws “on its own” punishing acts of treason, sedition, secession or subversion against Beijing.
The career police officer – sanctioned by the US in 2020, along with other Chinese officials “for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and restrict- ing the freedom of expression or assembly” – has already highlighted how loyalty to Beijing is a priority for any chief executive.
He “can’t deny he’s Beijing man” said Kenneth Chan Ka-lok, a former prodemocracy lawmaker and associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. “He’s hand-picked specifically for that reason … People don’t trust him, and he does not need their trust.”